we had some terminology, some of us who did cases. street justice is when a police officer, without taking somebody through the system, punishes the person physically or verbally or somehow. i am worried, because a significant number of san francisco police officers, i think, do that sort of thing. the other thing is that in a lot of our cases, where we started winning -- i read in the newspaper we are going to be trained. what i found out when i do cases is once we start winning, the defense goes, "the officer was inadequately trained."

it always happens that way. we have had many things we could accomplish in san francisco, and we have not. how to do with the mentally ill. 10 to 15 years, there has been training available in northern california, but the police department says we have not got it done yet. how about the backlog of misconduct cases? how about the backlog of misconduct cases the experts -- cases? i'll give you a quote. there is a poster on the wall at the hall of justice. it shows a kid hitting somebody, and another kid picking somebody. the "is, "violence is learned and can be unlearned, and there is no exception for police officers."

>> good evening. i am cynthia. i worked at an organization that works with both the latino and black communities of san francisco. a lot of our members were here today, and had to leave because of the time and how late we are running for public comment. just so you know, our members are tall, short, thin, big, with diabetes, and with many other illnesses. i do not know the police officer will be able to tell just looking at them, if they're in a situation where the officer might think something is going on that is bad. our communities are communities of color who are disproportionately impacted by police brutality and by the use of tasters nationwide. our families were here today. our elderly folks came out today to speak against tasers.

instead, do talk to our communities. don't talk to them about what gun you are going to allow a police officer to shoot them with. talk to them about what services are needed, but their experience has been with officers when things have escalated and they have used force on them. you talk to them about that. thank you for holding the public, and finally. also, the research and study and everything presented to you today shows that tasers are not what you should be looking for. i am not sure how much research to need to do, given the research that is already out there, and given what your purpose is with looking into tasers. talk to our communities and figure out a way there can be more effective community policing in our communities and

less police brutality, less police abuse. thank you. [applause] >> good evening, commissioners, chief. i want to thank you again for voting to adopt the memphis program two weeks ago. that was a historic moment. i would echo what some other speakers have asked you, which is where will the money for the pacers come from -- the tasers come from? sacrifices' within budgets usually come from direct services to help people, not technology or weapons that could be used to control people. of all of the studies you will presented this evening, one of the things i think was lacking was at studies that were done showing the disproportionate

use of tasers on people with psychiatric disabilities. that is known to advocacy organizations that work with disabled people. however, i did not hear it coming up in any of your studies. i would encourage you to take a look at those issues if you are not prepared to vote no. in one state, correct me if i'm wrong, i believe it was vermont, the state itself voted to prohibit the use of tasers until every member of the state police was trained in tactics, understanding that police are pressure. they believe they are under a great deal of time pressure to accomplish things. people they are encountering, most of them called suspect -- if suspects are not compliant, they will immediately go to something that will make them compliant, short and everybody's

time, and get them home. we see the disproportionate use of tasers in all of the population is described by former speakers. we see it in interactions between people who have psychiatric disabilities and the police. i urge you to vote bi,' -- vote no. president mazzucco: we really are having late into the evening. we are going to have to limit, if we can come up public speaking -- it is two minutes. we have to stop at this point. if we could stop at the end of each line and move to the other line and see who we have left to discuss this issue, we do have a full agenda besides this. >> i think there is an overflow room. how does that work? we have to bring them in here so they can lineup? president mazzucco: is it possible if we could take the time down to eminent and

halfbacks -- to a minute and a half? there is one person left in the overflow room? do we have to keep the time at two minutes? please come forward. if some of you can consolidate your thoughts, and that would be greatly appreciated. >> i am speaking for two people, so can i have twice the time. -- twice the time? [laughter] [applause] seriously. i am speaking for james cancini, and also to the mental disability issue. he has written and asked me to say, "please reject the proposal to arm with tasers. i am a social worker who worked in settings with diagnoses of psychiatric disability. many clients reported having

been dealt with in a properly by the police, who did not understand the mental illness. i am shortening his, and i am going to shorten-well. my name is carol harvey, and i am a human rights journalist. i wrote about the randall dunlkin situation, the man in the wheelchair who was shot more than once by the police. he was sitting in his wheelchair in the back. the fix on that was supposed to be the use of tasers, talking about that. in my humble opinion, that man was surrounded by what i count as six police officers who were not in wheelchairs', who were strong and a bold -- and abled and supposedly trained. i think if the use of tasers had

been employed, there would have been a disastrous result from that, just as from his being shot. i would like to know. first of all, i support the idea of the training. dealing with talking down people who have mental illness. i am also concerned about this myself. i am not mentally disabled, but i am physically disabled. with the new set-lie law, if i am sitting and do not move fast enough, because i have bone spurs, i am concerned about being tased. please reject this and put in some training. thanks. >> my name is colleen rebecca. i work with homeless youth alliance. we provide basic services, including clothing, food, and a safe place to be to homeless

youth in the haight. many are people with mental illness, people who have lived super -- lips through severe trauma, despite their young age, and many of whom use illegal and legal substances. we are very concerned about the potential use of tasers. we do our best not only to keep our youth safe, but also to help them into programs that have been shown to give them better lives and a chance to be fully functioning members of society that they want to be.

my concern is that the introduction of tasers will turn non-legal situations that could be dealt with through the escalation -- deescalation will be concluded with use of a taser. we want a safer community, not a more heavily armed police force. we need to talk about this more as a police community, how we can have a separate community for everyone, from homeless youth to officers to work on our streets. this should be the beginning, not the end of the conversation. we want you to come to our home turf. we want to talk to you about some of our issues in our community, with our people. thank you. [applause] >> my name is maria carolina moralists -- moralez, and i work

with the community against violence. we work with intervention and prevention of domestic violence and hate violence. i am not sure if many of you know, but when somebody has just gone through an incident of domestic violence, they seem to be a little bit out of their mind. they do not understand what you are talking about. they do not make a lot of sense. they are confused. many times when police are called, they do not know what to say. they are answering the wrong questions. many times, they are arrested. it happens a lot in lgbt communities that domestic violence victims are arrested. i am worried that the police will use tasers on domestic violence survivors. the lgbt community has been

highly affected by budget cuts in services. new leaf services, which was a 25-year-old organization serving thousands of books dealing with substance abuse issues, closed this year. it closed. we have no place to refer lgbt people that is really, but -- really competent to deal with lgbt issues. david campos was able to -- i do not even know. thank goodness he did what he did. we're going to be spending money on tasers? let's put the community as a priority rather than tasers. thank you. [applause] >> good evening. my name is richard terry kotch.

i am on the executive board of the national lawyers guild. we signed on to community opposition to tasers in san francisco. i urge you to vote no. tasers can and do turn non-legal force situations into deadly force situations, especially for mentally ill people, who often react differently to many things, including physical events, such as being tasered. some mentally ill may not be stopped by a taser, increasing the risk of an officer using a gun. also, the cost of tasers to purchase, the training for officers, and the lawsuits, i would think would make this a productive budget item.

according to the bart police officer, he shot and killed oscar granted when he drew his sidearm, believing it was a taser. officers should choose to use one or the other, but not both. lastly, it is not a statistic, but i am shaken in some ways by the overwhelming testimony tonight of people who are concerned about how the mentally ill in our city are going to be affected by the use of tasers. thank you very much. [applause] >> my name is kim orbach. about three years ago, a young man in oakland was coming out of a store where he cashed his paycheck. an officer by the name of patrick gonzalez, who has killed

at least twice, and has killed in other jurisdictions, claimed he recognized gary king jr. as a suspect. he approached mr. king, not the bag of chips out of his hand, and proceeded to search him. king reacted, was tased, had the sincere of him before he fled to save his life, and was executed. this man is still on the police force in oakland. he has pulled a gun on a comrade of mine, saying, "i have killed two people. you know what will happen if you run." ever since judge perry issued his decision in november, sentencing with a slap on the wrist, thereby creating a "i thought i used my taser"

defense, there have been killings in oakland of unarmed young men, who are claimed to have been going for the waistband, for what the officer thought was a weapon, in one case an electronic scale while the victim was jumping over a fence. whatever tools we give officers, a very certain percentage of people in our communities know the officers will abuse. [applause] >> hello, commissioners. my name is marlin crump. i am the co-founder of the revolutionary legal advocacy corps.

when they had the theater performance of a 911 domestic call, when the police officer came here with a tommy gun displayed for everybody, the last thing is to criticize every one of you for allowing us to sit through all these meetings for all this time before you actually allow us to be heard. i know that president mazzucco tried to cut the time down a little bit. that is disrespectful. we sat through this entire process, almost five hours. some of us have places to go. some of us have a mobility issues. some of us have young children. it is disrespectful to prolong this entire process, these presentations, over and over, it just so you guys can get your presentations before everybody else. you really need to start

prioritizing the public more. nobody is overcoming the other. i want to be fair for a moment. i am against the tasers. some of my comrades here are against the tasers. but when police officers fly over and over again -- lie over and over again, how do we know if the use of a taser is justified? overall, you also the presentations. you saw what happens when a taser is used. what would happen to your body if 50,000 volts is going through your body? thank you. [applause] >> good evening, commissioners. my name is josh mann. i live and work in the tenderloin neighborhood. i applaud you for adopting the

memphis police department crisis intervention program, something that gave me some hope. i want to repeat a couple of concerns that have been stated a lot that in particular stood out for me. one is the history of inappropriate use and abuse of tasers. the other is the city budget priorities. i know i would much rather see money from the budget go toward what i consider crime prevention, education, mental health services, rather than being used on new weapons. finally, for me i have the question of when is the appropriate use of taster's -- of tasers. there have been a lot of warnings of when not to use them, where on the body not to use them, but i am not sure what circumstances do warrant the use of tasers.

thank you very much. [applause] >> my name is and garrison, i am a district 8 voter and a journalist. with the expertise of cultivated in recent years, it is u.s. interventions and involvement in east-central africa -- burundi, sudan, combo -- congo. the culture that we export, which unfortunately is largely a culture of violence, force, and control, is a culture we create right here, every day, in forums like this, and in the decisions that come out of them. the point about san francisco culture as it is now. every year, we host fleet week and the blue angels air show, a celebration of global military dominance and the question of might and right.

the public legislature issued a report saying that san francisco is the most racist city in california. last year, i believe, a study came out putting san francisco in the top 10 cruelest cities to the homeless. please do not add the police use of a weapon tantamount to torture to this list. [applause] >> good evening. i am a physician. i am retired. before retiring, i was board certified twice in family medicine. i am speaking to the subject that person's on psychotropic drugs are high risk of sudden death taser -- if tasered. many are medicated under the supervision of government- employed positions. i am speaking out to criticize positions for failure to

diagnose, thus leaving a patient and the public at risk. psychosis or depression is commonly related to nutrition issues or toxic exposures, people who have uncontrolled diabetes or cut toxic conditions -- hypoxic conditions. mental status is commonly overlooked. it is overlooked in the majority of patients who present as psychosis or major depression. molecular medicine has documented reduction with use of niacin in 50% of cases. this treatment is not commonly offered in the united states and is actively bought by members of my profession, the psychiatric order. humans hate side-effects of psychotropic medications and often forget to take them. these medications damage their brain and make the person more likely to be violent. the pharmaceutical industry

covers this up when there are cases that go into court. too long, my profession and the promise of the gun industry has failed the public, and left police officers -- my profession and the pharmaceutical industry has billed the public, and left police officers holding the bag. >> i am an attorney in san francisco, and i am going to be very brief. i have worked on a few recent conduct cases. i am not an expert, but i did learn something from experts tonight. the honduras -- john burris stated a taser would never be used in a deadly force situation. after that, the physician spoke and said based on his expertise, a taser should only be used in a deadly force situation. based on that, i would like to posit that there is no place for tasers in the police department.

[applause] >> good evening, commissioners. my name is barbara lopez. i currently work at an elementary school in the mission. i am concerned about disproportional use of tasers on communities of color. i am a career woman. i used to do a lot of parties in the mission and the castro for women. a lot of my friends are still promoters. when we talk about a gay agenda, our community disproportionately does drugs. a lot of my friends that are still on the scene in the castro disproportional the use cocaine, math, and other uppers, to deal with trauma. my have been two clubs, often police officers have had to intervene because of people on drugs. i am very concerned when the first, i heard tonight was nothing bet -- that drugs are an

appropriate of tasers. when you're under the influence of drugs, your heart beat gets faster. if you get tased, that increases the likelihood of a heart attack. a lot of gay boys i know are still doing drugs. they are going to be the folks that are going to get tasered, and i think that is a serious concern. i am asking you to vote no on tasers, because of communities that are going to get targeted. thank you so much for your time. [applause] >> good evening. my name is barbara growth. i am concerned resident. i vote against the taser because of the long wires. i have a fear that the officer

uses the taser and the other officer steps forward to protect him. you'll find the other officer dead sometime later with funny marks around his neck from another officer that may not be exactly on our side, because we let everybody in the department. the court is not going to turn them in either. i vote for the hand-held thing like i have gotten, which i use at home. it makes noise. i have not used it on a dog, like a wanted to. i wanted to show my son, but it pop so much he would not open his door and come out so i could show him how the thing looked or sounded. i would go for the hand held that those close to the person. that way, there is no mixup. you have to push it on one side and hold it on the other. there is no mixup at all. the net take routine -- anybody can be made in that kick -- the

nutcake routine -- anybody can be made a nutcake. i am 100 pounds overweight, compliments of putting it on in one month from difficult -- depacote, a psychiatric medication. they are nuisances. i divorced my problem. my ex-husband was a civilian employee with the san francisco police department who managed to get transferred to the closest district station. yes, this lady has a rap sheet, but i no longer have any problems, because i am divorced. thank you. president mazzucco>> thank you,r opening and up to the floor. i worked as a community

organizer in the commission, for predominantly the central american community. i want to point out for most it is often said that law enforcement is in place to protect and serve us. obviously, we pay the salaries of cops. a retired taxes are taken out of our paychecks, -- any time taxes are taken out of our paychecks, that goes to protect and serve us. i think you guys would be stupid to vote for this. why do i say that? it is obvious in this room that most of us in the community oppose tasers. if we are the ones who pay the salaries of the cops, how would you vote on something that goes against the interest of the people? [applause] obviously, expert testimony has not supported that the taser is the way to